


Souji and the Terrible,  Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

by InkstainedGwyn



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Fluff, M/M, and yosuke makes it better, another agent au, in which souji has a bad day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 05:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17822609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkstainedGwyn/pseuds/InkstainedGwyn
Summary: Souji gets called in on his day off and nothing goes right. All he wanted to do was sleep in and spend some time with Yosuke!





	Souji and the Terrible,  Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Souji was in a very bad mood.

It had all started that morning, far too early, far earlier than the partners’ alarm had been set; definitely earlier than Souji would want to be up on any day but especially a day off. And yet even then, he couldn’t ignore a phone call, not when the ringtone pegged it as a call from his boss, Dojima; Yosuke rolled over and shoved his pillow over his head as Souji answered it, dreading what it heralded.

“ _Shirogane’s sick and you’re next on the list to fill in, Seta._ ”

He dragged himself out of bed, into the shower, and into his suit, all the while jealous of Yosuke; it was already going to be awkward going in without his partner (but no reason for two people to fill in for one), and on top of that Yosuke was going to get to go back to bed as soon as Souji had left. Still grumbling and only half-awake, Souji dragged himself out of the door, into their SUV, and headed to the office.

It was raining, of course, which made the traffic ten times more horrible, and _why were so many people on the streets so early in the morning?_

He managed to catch every. single. red. light. Every one of them, every intersection. A few even had extra pedestrians. 

A flurry of extra-early coworkers had taken up all of the lower-level parking spots, leaving Souji to the second-level. The elevator down always smelled faintly of seawater and cigarettes. 

It was always exhausting being crammed onto the office elevator, this time going _up_ , and why _his_ unit had to be on one of the higher floors and _all_ the way down the hall, he had no idea. His shoes squelched along the tile floor, and the unit suite was _cold_ , colder than he’d expect for an autumn day. 

Nobody had started the coffee.

There was a pile of reports from forensics that needed to be filed.

Somebody ( _Ted!!!_ ) had left a container of seaweed salad in the fridge and it was starting to go bad, making everything else smell sour.

Shirogane and Tatsumi had been working on a passport-counterfeiting case and it took Souji a couple of hours to read up on the reports so that he’d be of any help that afternoon, since they’d narrowed down some suspects and were going to go after one of them that afternoon. Usually Tatsumi was a pretty level-headed guy, but he was worried about his partner, which made him antsy and a little too talkative, and that got on Souji’s nerves even more.

The convenience store was out of his favourite bottled tea.

The list could have gone on and on, but the culmination of the bad day came when they’d finally gotten to their target’s hideout. They had both missed a tell-tale clue that eliminated their element of surprise, resulting in a frantic chase through the back alleys of Odaiba. Tatsumi managed to corner the suspect (now criminal since he could be charged with resisting an officer of the law) but it had almost turned into a hostage situation when a dumb teenager playing hooky had wandered onto the scene. Souji had to take a massive risk and shoot with intent to disable; it worked, and no one was injured beyond his target, but…

...any time a firearm was discharged, a full report was required on the reason as to why it had been necessary. Souji wasn’t even worried about repercussions - he’d been in the agency for long enough to know what his options were, and that had been the only applicable one at the time. But _god_ he did not want to spend the last hour of his day writing a 2,500-word essay evaluating the situation, not when he already had filing to do, and it was still raining, and he was tired, and hadn’t gotten more than a few bites of lunch. 

That hadn’t even been the worst part of the day, even though it had been the culmination. No, the worst came when they were on their way back to the station, and his phone had gone off. 

It was Yosuke.

“Any chance you’ll be home soon, partner? It’s getting close to dinner time.”

Hearing Yosuke’s voice was usually soothing, but that entire day had been dragging on Souji so much that he just… snapped.

“Hell if _I_ know, just do whatever and I’ll see you whenever.”

The second the words left his mouth - even _without_ the scandalized look from Tatsumi, which _did not help_ \- he felt _immense_ guilt… which made him feel even more irritated. Mumbling something about “later”, Souji hung up, looking pointedly out the window so as not to see Tatsumi’s reproachful expression. 

The guilt (and subsequent annoyance) hounded him through the writing of his report, through his filing and his cleanup, and weighed his shoulders down as he sat in his car, stuck in mid-evening traffic, waiting to get home. The more he thought about it the worse he felt - and the worse he felt, the more annoyed he got, almost like he was sulking, waiting for someone to tell him it wasn’t his fault, even though he knew it absolutely was. And the more annoyed he got, the more he thought about it - starting the cycle all over again.

_It was my day off! He got to stay home and sleep in!_

_Shirogane couldn’t help being sick. And today was chores day. Even with the two of you working on them it usually takes all day - Yosuke’s having to carry your part of the load, too. Since when has he ever slacked on his responsibilities?_

_I’m cold and tired, I’m sore and I have a headache, and we_ never _have “standard” clock-out times. He knows this!_

_“No standard clock-out times” could mean being early as much as it means being late. He just wanted to know when you’d be home._

_He misses you._

_Being off without you isn’t any more fun for him than it is for you._

_He got up with you even though it was still his day off._

_He made you coffee before you left._

The list went on and by the time it was done Souji felt _so_ badly that he almost didn’t want to _go_ home, but he knew that wouldn’t solve anything, either. When he finally got to their building he parked, turned his collar against the rain, and trudged upstairs. He was so embarrassed by this point that he found himself getting angry again - angry at _everything_ , not at Yosuke, but at the entire day. He was so mad that he had to take a breath before opening the door - quietly, hoping that Yosuke would be in the bedroom or something, giving Souji a chance to slip in and go to the bathroom to sulk on his own - only to find Yosuke waiting there, an oversized sweater (of Souji’s!) on his shoulders, a relieved expression on his face, and a full mug of hot green tea in his hands. A skewed chair near the dining nook window showed that he’d been sitting there - probably since the call - watching the street for a glimpse of Souji’s car; the dishwasher was running, the counters were spotless, and down the hall through their bedroom door, Souji could see stacks of folded clothes. 

It’s often the small things that turn the tide, and seeing all of this - being confronted by his partner’s warm expression, which held no signs of anger or reproach - just _seeing_ Yosuke, who Souji had missed _all day_ caused his resentment to melt like snow before a flood, and he had to screw up his face to avoid breaking down into very unbecoming tears. 

“ _Yosuke_ ,” was all he could choke out, opening his arms to pull his husband into a hug; Yosuke’s expression shifted into a smile as he set the tea down on the entryway table, then slid his arms into Souji’s coat and wrapped them around his torso. 

“Welcome home, partner,” came the warm response to his words, and Souji almost broke down then and there - having Yosuke in his arms, smelling his shampoo and the faint scent of his cologne almost too much for his day’s supply of self-pity, as well as his guilt. 

“I’m so sorry about everything, especially what I said,” he whispered, face against Yosuke’s shoulder; a gentle hand came up to stroke his (rain-damp) hair, and he could feel the rumble of a chuckle almost more than he could hear it. 

“Don’t worry about it, Souji.” The stroking was soft and rhythmic and Souji could almost have fallen asleep. “I know you missed me. It was a long day, and I missed you, too. Now, come on - I had just enough time after I saw you drive in to start the bath and put on the tea. Let’s go get you a hot bath, and then see about ordering something for dinner, okay?” 

_A hot bath, hot tea_ … those things sounded wonderful, but Souji just shook his head. Right now there was one thing he needed more than anything, and that was the embrace he was already in. Yosuke chuckled again, shifting so that he could fit closer, and Souji exhaled softly as he tightened his arms. The warmth and the scent and the softness of the brunette’s hair against his cheek was the emotional equivalent of sinking into a tub of hot water, and he found the hard knots of annoyance and irritation left behind by his bad mood melting away.

“I missed you,” he finally breathed, looking up.

Yosuke just smiled at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he repeated the phrase Souji would never grow tired of hearing. “Welcome home, partner.” The two shared a soft kiss, and Yosuke took the chance to push Souji’s still-wet raincoat off his shoulders. “Don’t let your bath get cold.” 

For what felt like (and probably was) the first time that day, Souji chuckled, finally releasing the brunette to step back. He took the tea gratefully, carrying it into the bathroom; he was down to just his pants when Yosuke followed him in, a pair of warm towels fresh from the dryer in his arms. As he set them down, Souji reached out, taking the brunette’s wrist. 

“It’s been a long day.”

Yosuke nodded, reaching out to stroke Souji’s hair with his other hand. “I know it has, partner.”

“I woke up early, and I’ve been out in the cold and rain all day.” 

The brunette tsk’d. “That’s terrible. Hurry up and get warm, you don’t want to catch a cold.” 

Smiling at this, Souji pulled a quite-willing Yosuke into his arms. “It’s warmer with two. Join me?”

A sly smile curved the brunette’s lips as he slid his arms over Souji's shoulders, gently stroking the soft hairs on the back of his neck. “I would absolutely love to.”

As Souji leaned in for a kiss as slow and as sweet as molasses, he found the last of his bad mood finally fading away. His unexpected work day was over, after all; he had tomorrow off - as did Yosuke - and he’d been given the day after that off to make up for the one he’d missed. Sure, Yosuke had to work that day, but… well, that just gave Souji plenty of time to prepare to welcome his husband home after _his_ long and tiring day.  


End file.
